Monday
It’s here. Yes, it’s conference week, Arts Marketing Association’s (AMA) biggest event of the year, where over 750 arts marketers gather to learn, connect, and be invigorated by incredible speakers.
As Head of Membership at AMA, it provides me with a great opportunity to meet a large selection of our 4,300 members face-to-face. At the AMA, our mission is to help our members (arts marketers and arts and culture leaders) to be at the forefront of marketing, increasing their skills and knowledge with the ultimate aim of increasing audiences. Our members are dedicated to their work and are very passionate about the arts. This enthusiasm never fails to provide a heady boost when we see them each year.
Tuesday
Only one sleep left to go! I spend much of my day forensically scanning through my WWWW – the “What, When, Where, Why” briefing document. Our bible for the next three days. Our Head of Events and Operations, Dani [Danielle Patrick], carefully curates this and plans our timings to the dot. Follow the plan; be where you need to be; do what you need to do, and all will (hopefully) run like clockwork. During conference week, I go from leading on the membership experience to different roles with lots of hats: from events steward to customer service assistant, exhibition stand host, social host, and session chair. I love having this variety and the few points in the year when we come together as a team to run events. I think the bonds that are established during these events contribute to the culture that makes AMA such a great organisation to work for.
Wednesday
Conference day arrives, and I travel down to Brighton excited to see the rest of our team. Our conference home for the next couple of days is the stunning Brighton Dome – a multi-arts venue housed in George VI’s former stable block at the Royal Pavilion. Our team grows at the conference, and the stage door foyer is filled with chattering anticipation of our venue tour. AMA staff, freelancers, and board members are reunited, and we get to meet Amelia and Lulu, our two work-experience placements, for the first time.
This year’s conference theme is “Be Brave, Be Bold”, a chance to celebrate the collective strength our members possess as arts marketers and focus on both the small and large changes that can be made to move our sector forward and centre audiences.
I attempt to channel this as I head in the evening to one of our themed socials for “first-time” conference attendees. Molly [Pilkington] and Annie [Bacon] from our team join me to reassure the friendly but nervous faces flooding into The Oculist bar – finding out how their journeys have gone, what’s going well for them at their organisations, and what their challenges are. The room is awash with chirpy conversations. I look around to see smiling faces and lots of conference connections being made, which builds an incredible network of cultural marketers across the UK.
Thursday
The cavernous Corn Exchange is buzzing as everyone arrives to mingle with our exhibitors. I set up the AMA’s stand with my colleague, Lewis [Roden]. We’re getting feedback from our
members today through feedback boxes to get an idea of how we can make our support as relevant as possible to them.
I get to meet some of our Connectors [Member Reps] including Mark Robertson from the National Galleries of Scotland and Freelance Arts Marketer from the West Midlands, Rebecca Farkas. They are both fizzing with ideas for their future networking meetings and enjoying the time away from their desks. Jerzy [Wicher], our new Website Developer, arrives.
It’s only his second week working for us. As we’re remote workers, it’s great that we get to meet him in person so early in his induction.
I head over to watch Florence Bell from the Young Vic’s session on social media strategy and tone of voice. She shares their journey of how they’ve successfully built up their organic social presence. A big part of their success has been making engaging and entertaining content that the algorithm wants to push to people. Put simply by Florence, “Great content gets seen.” The evening sees us head to Shelter Hall, a sea-front venue where anticipation builds ahead of the exit poll for the UK General Election. After great food and conversations, the clock chimes 10pm. The TV news has been turned on, and a crowd gathers. The poll results are in, and a cheer goes up. We’re politically neutral as an organisation; the DJ, however, is not bound by these conventions. Suddenly Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline rings out from the decks, and singing fills the room.
Friday
The final day of the conference. It never amazes me how quickly the time goes! A busier schedule for me with more tech checks and hosting duties.
First up, former Head of Audiences at Rambert, Jo Taylor entertainingly explores how organisations can draw on fan culture to create a more engaged audience. Jo does a deep dive into fandoms and how they generate participation through expression and contribution. Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, The Beatles and of course, the Swifties crop up as iconic fandoms as Jo posed the question: “What if your whole organisation had a fan base?” This took Rambert on a journey to create a deeper relationship with their audience; one not reliant on individual shows, but a genuine connection with their brand, their organisation, and what they stand for as an organisation.
I get the pleasure of chairing Monique Baptiste Brown’s session on running bold marketing campaigns. She’s Head of Marketing & Audience Development at Brixton House and an AMA board member. She runs through the building blocks of a successful marketing campaign with a particular focus on knowing both your cultural offer and your audience inside out. She breaks it down in layman’s terms beautifully: “For me, marketing is about storytelling… building a narrative that connects with those audiences we’ve identified.”
The applause fades, and I’m hot footing it to pick up the Q&A microphone. In the most Norfolk of stories, the speaker, Emma Venier, used to be my neighbour. We excitedly catch up before she then speaks about her role as Audience Development Officer at Frozen Light in Norwich. They create multi-sensory theatre for adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). Her talk is crammed with lots of access tips and tricks for our arts marketers to think about when welcoming their audiences to their venues. What stands out to me is the collaborative relationship between the Frozen Light team, their audience of adults with PMLD, and their caregivers. The caregivers are a crucial part of their audience; always listening to them for feedback and advice. It’s important to them that the carers feel supported, valued, and seen. The work they do is visibly emotional for the room – both the access challenges that are made apparent to us, but also the uplifting difference that the theatre company’s work
is making.
Saturday
The day after the conference. I’ve stopped in at my parents’, who live less than an hour from Brighton. It’s my Dad’s 70th birthday, and his present is a day trip to ride the Romney, Hythe, and Dymchurch railway – which runs one-third full-size steam locomotives. Coincidentally, I had spoken to one of their team at the AMA exhibition stand during the Museums + Heritage Show in London, so it was fabulous to be able to soak up the passenger experience in real life. It makes me reflect on the breadth of the organisations I’m lucky to help support through the AMA, from heritage to opera, dance, classical music, and theatre. We get an insight into their different challenges and strengths, as well as seeing the commonalities which connect them.
Sunday
Back home in Norfolk for a day of R & R – rest and roast dinners! I keep my beady eye on my cheeky Dalmatian, who is attempting to wriggle out of his post-op pyjamas despite the impending threat of the “cone of shame”. Inspired by a week getting to speak with our creative members, I feel refreshed and eager to uncover my linocut tools that have been gathering dust. As I begin to gently carve into some lino, my mind wanders to the week ahead, and I feel invigorated to make change and support our members to thrive.